Why keep our reports secret? Omicron patient’s wife

Kumaran P | NT

Bengaluru: A shroud of secrecy cloaks the Covid status of the 46-year-old anesthesiologist, one of the first two Omicron patients in the country, and his wife, now being treated at Bowring and Lady Curzon hospital in the city with the wife claiming that the hospital had not provided them any of their medical reports for inexplicable reasons.

The anesthesiologist’s case drew a lot of attention as the patient had no travel history at a time when most Omicron cases in the country are returnees from Africa. His wife who is Covid positive, told NT, “They (hospital) aren’t giving us any reports. We are stable and under treatment. We have no idea if my husband has tested positive again and we don’t know why they haven’t given us the reports. Everything is with the BBMP and their higher ups.” When asked how she and her husband were doing, she replied, “Both of us have pneumonia; we are recovering after treatment.” When NT reached out to the director of Bowring hospital on Tuesday to confirm reports that the doctor had tested positive again in his second report after seven days, his phone was switched off and he could not be reached for an official comment. However Dr Vijayalakshmi, medical superintendent at the hospital confirmed the news and said, “Yes, he has tested positive again” but declined to provide any more information on the patients.“Since this case is of utmost importance being the first case in the country, all information should be shared with the central ministry. Maybe this is one reason why they are not providing information to the patients, which is a matter of concern. The reports should be shown to the patients irrespective of the disease they are suffering from,” said a senior doctor in Bengaluru.

The district health officer (DHO), Bengaluru, Dr Gurla Srinivas said, “A patient is likely to get a positive report even 14 days after the infection because of the viral load they have. It is a standard practice to test at different intervals to see how the patient is doing.” The anesthesiologist did not have any history of travel and was going to the hospital daily for work. It is suspected that he might have got the infection from another patient with travel history.